James Potter and Bullying (Harry Potters dad!)

Well I've been back on Tumblr for a little while now, and I have a interest in Harry Potter so I've joined a Harry Potter confessions blog.

One confession that always surprises me is that James Potter, Harry's dad, isn't a bully.

Read below for my opinion on this pressing matter!


So the question we ask ourselves is whether or not we'd class Harry's dad a bully.

In my opinion the answer to that is simply yes.

What people seem to take from an answer like that is that we also think his father is unworthy of praise for later actions.

You see whatever we know to have happened (Snape being a death eater, Lily and James living to love each other till their deaths) at the age they were when they were doing the things they were doing they didn't know anything. An excuse for their behavior amongst certain fans is that they were only doing it to Snape who joined the Death Eaters and caused James and Lilys death in the first place. But then that line of argument is so flawed its unbelievable!

For a start its like if I went and punched some stranger in the street tomorrow I could get away with it because in 20 years time he COULD rob a bank. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but you can't use it to excuse someone for what they've done.

But then you get into mere facts. At that moment in time (Snapes memory) Lily DIDN'T love James, in fact Lily kinda disliked James a little more than Snape. In years to come she fell in love with James and that is all good and happy, but at that point she wasn't dating James let alone being in love with him. So you can't excuse him because Snape insulted the love of his life. Heck I could fancy anyone off the street it wouldn't mean they were the love of my life!

The next favorite line is that Snape was just as bad as James.

OK so we know that he did hang out with bullies and that he had a murky past himself at school, I'm not denying he was a bully too. But from what we know James didn't bully Snape to stand up for the poor innocent people Snape and his friends bullied, in fact you can infer from the dialogue given that Snape wasn't even the only person that James and his friends bullied either! And really, you'll forgive one bully because they were bullying another bully? Isn't the fact that they were bullying a bully proof that they were obviously bigger bullies?

Now in later life both of these gentlemen did good deeds, yes James did more than Snape and yes James was more of a big, bold hero. Snape only became a hero later in his life though one could argue what he did to become a hero was more dangerous then James. That argument could go on for the rest of your life. It really is up to personal opinion. JK obviously wanted Snape to be seen as a hero by the end of the book with his redemption being in a flashback series so that you could understand him. Was he flawed? Hell fucking yes! So was James! Does that make him a bad person? Of course not!!! But that is up to how you feel, some people will hate Snapes character others won't but its obvious by the end of the book that the author wanted Snape to live on as a hero.

And the last point people make is that its Snape's memory therefore its obvious it'll be tainted to portray James badly....

Well its a memory, he hadn't fiddled with it, it might be slightly biased yeah sure, but it happened, and Lupin and Sirius basically admitted it.

Actually I say last point the last most stupid point was that SIRIUS was the bully and James wasn't. They were both a like, no matter which one was a bully all the rest of them were too.

So in all the arguments against James being a bully are totally in the eye of the beholder, it goes on the principles that you can't be flawed and a good person (which you can be), that whatever that person does in later life will prove whether they deserved that or not (which it doesn't) and that you can't bully a bully (which you can.)

In my opinion yes James was a bully, and a lovely friend and ended up being very brave and amazing.

Snape was probably a bully too, not such a good friend but ended up being extremely brave and pretty amazing himself.


But to be considered....

Yes I know I love Snape as a character but just think about this...

Snape obviously came from a broken family. We don't know much about it but the description of what he wore as a kid and how he talked about it he obviously had a bad upbringing.

Lily was his only friend, but he obviously didn't know how to treat people.

He then went to Hogwarts were he was put into a house that is known for Dark Wizards, so whether or not a person is good or nice the other houses already have their minds made up.

His only friend went to Gryffindor, the rival house to his. So in a way he'd lost his friend.

You'd make friends in your own house, like James did, so Snape made friends with people who would take him most probably. Whether they were good or bad they accepted him and that is what Snape wanted. It is what everyone wanted.

Then life happened. People mold into a way of life and Lily and Snape grew apart.

Snape is ridiculed by James, whether or not he was a bully himself, which will lower anyone's self confidence.

James was obviously from a loving home, had friends, was popular, played quidditch and was just naturally wonderful.

Snape probably had to work hard for everything and was ridiculed for it.

So his friends in Slytherin became his everything and when they made him feel like he could take on anyone he took on anyone.

Lily ended up disliking both Snape and James.

James grew up and changed, Lily fell in love with him.

Snape lost the only person he loved so gave up and just fully went to his friend who were the only thing he had left.

Snape grew up and did terrible things.

Snape could have ended up the way he was without bullies, he might have been a better person if people like James had reached out to his house rather then just hate them on principal. If anything the houses were what drove Snape down the road he went to. Being separated in a way from the only bit of warmth he'd ever known and having that replaced when he'd only just found it by a negative force (forces if you include his rivalry with James) no wonder he was messed up!

Not that I'm excusing Snape...

Not that I'm excusing Snape...

Yeah I thought I'd say that twice so the people filling up with bile whilst reading all before it might actually read it!

In the end as I said both were bullies. Its important for us and Harry to understand his parents were flawed as hero worshiping isn't healthy.

Snape went wrong when he bullied Harry for what his father did before he was even born. But Snape also protected Harry, and the proof of how much James hurt Snape is in the fact he couldn't even for Lilys sake, the only person he ever loved, have been warmer to her only child.